Study of spatial temperature features of road tunnel fires under multiple factors

Abstract

AbstractAfter a highway tunnel fire, the rapid change of the internal ambient temperature directly affects the personal safety of pedestrians. Based mainly on the lateral possibility of fire location and considering the coupling effect of multiple factors in a two‐lane highway tunnel, this study systematically carried out 63 full‐size tunnel fire simulation studies relying on Fluent software. The smoke temperature distribution patterns in the transverse and longitudinal spaces of the tunnel after the fire were revealed. This study shows that the smoke temperature below the tunnel vault is susceptible to the effect of sidewall restraint, making the maximum temperature of the tunnel vault of the offset fire source large; considering the lateral location of the fire source, the maximum temperature prediction formula of the tunnel vault is modified to expose the change law of the longitudinal temperature decay of the vault. This paper reveals for the first time the law of temperature distribution changes at the characteristic height of the human eye on the evacuation platform in the tunnel; the systematic study of the fire source cross‐sectional temperature distribution changes at the key lining structure points, and it is found that a low‐temperature space conducive to personnel escape exists in the lower part of the tunnel away from the fire source side. The results of the study are beneficial to the design of safe evacuation paths in the tunnel and the active emergency evacuation of personnel in the near‐fire source area.